Rick Astley fueled symphony

Summer 2021, Week 5

Wednesday evening

Leadenhall, City Centre

Storyteller

It was a warmer night on this fine summer evening, cars passed by one by one over and over and over. People walked the streets, hell some even lurked from rooftop to rooftop patrolling to stop crime and help people out but others were exploring the city, and themselves.   On a rooftop that connects perfectly to another building with a view from the street is where this story focuses. A perfect spot to send a message, all it would take is some cardboard, a few scans of spraypaint and a want to create art. Well that or special Neon powers.  

Angeliqué Blake

Angeliqué had been sketching the idea for about a week now, and she discovered the location just yesterday. It was all falling together perfectly. Coming out onto, the roof the woman finally pulled down the hood of her hoodie letting the night air dance through her curls. She reached into her pocket to pull out her phone, squinting as the light from the screen temporarily blinded her. She tapped out a quick message to her roommate, turned on some music and let out a deep exhale. Replacing a her phone with a small sketchbook, Angeliqué walked a little farther out onto the roof only stopping once she reached the location she had pre-selected. Angeliqué dropped her sketchbook to the ground and took another deep breath. This time her her hands glowed to life with a pink-purple light.   Time to go to work.

[Manipulator, Basic x1, -0EP, 25EP]

 

Quentin Jones

Quentin had been itching to do some graffiti. Hell he'd found this spot earlier today and had gotten to work making everything he needed, from cardboard stencils to the numerous cans of spray paint that hung from his belt. A perfect reason to test out his new skates and stick it to anyone important watching.   clack clack clack   His roller blades hit the stairs slowly on the way up his helmet wasn't on, however he was was covered by a few beads of sweat. "Fucking stairs....can't just skate up them, stupid fuckin' stairs. ughhhhhhhh so slow.....c'monnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn."   To quentin this small maybe 20 second trip felt like he was lost in a desert walking for an eternity an absent minded hand pulled a protein bar out of his pocket as he walked out of the stairs and around the corner not seeing Angeliqué as he quickly threw the stencils to the side chewing on the bar like a madman before he finally noticed her. His hair was brown with a small amount dyed white at the front as he tried to casually act off that he'd come up here to do grafitti, but he saw what she was doing.   "Uhhh.........Hi?"  

Angeliqué Blake

Angeliqué started small. With some quick blasts and the guidance of her hands, Angeliqué began to bring the wall to life. Eventually she wasn't even following her original sketch. She was just letting the music guide her hands. It was...therapeutic. While nothing was particularly wrong, sometimes it was just nice to do something for herself. Hell before she started doing things like this Angeliqué used to give herself an impulse tattoo. Funny enough a good chunk of her tatts were impulse doodles back from her apprentice days.   Though when she turned around for just a second, she caught the sight of something that she really hoped she wouldn't see. Another person. Angeliqué simply stared at them, one of her headphones lightly fell out of her ear. The woman's eyes widened, making her look like a deer caught in headlights. Slowly she raised her hands but stopped when she noticed they were still all aglow. Shit. Well now there was only one thing left to do.   Run.   Angeliqué in a quick motion shot a small blast at the ground, grabbed her sketchbook and then began to book it for the stairs. The blast wasn't enough to blind or harm him but just enough to startle.

[Manipulator, Normal x1 Basic x1, -3EP, 22EP]

 

Quentin Jones

Quentin gave an awkward smile and shrug as she looked at him like she was in headlights. Hey, that's actually pretty good, pretty cool too. I should ask how she does th- she's an evo dipshit. Good for inspir- Oh she's running Ow my eyes!   The thoughts quickly raced through Quentin's mind before he watched the blast and staggered back a bit. If Angeliqué had noticed he was on roller blades, she would be able to admit that him not falling on his ass was either very lucky or he was skilled. When he looked back up she was gone instantly scanning around and around he found her and where she was going.   Y’know Quentin usually is the one running away from people, he didn’t know how it feels to be on this end, he really didn’t like it.   So I’m just gonna end this riiiight... Quentin leaned forward, the motors in his skates lurching forward and with a surprising amount of control and acceleration (and help from some supernatural speed.) he was a flash that she could barely see.   Now. He landed his body on the doorframe and quickly raised his legs so he was sitting inside the doorframe.   “Whoa whoa whoa. Hey uh, don’t run please? I just wanna chat, I ain’t gonna do anything cus youre an evo or anything I just….you took my spot but like it’s really cool the art and I don’t wanna be the reason you stop. So please if it's okay I'd like to see you do your art thing......and help you escape the cops because we aren't too far from the station.” His words overlapped one another, and seemlessly connected the pauses weren't felt by her. Quentin only felt them because ever since his powers had awaken he had be running on superspeed constantly. His hand quickly rushed up to meet with his crappy wireless headphones and fiddled with them.

[Enh. Speed basic x1, Techno Usr. Basic x 1 -0EP 15/15]

 

Angeliqué Blake

Just as Angeliqué reached the entrance to the stairs, there he was again. She stumbled back, luckily stopping herself from hitting the ground. Another evo, like her. Well not entirely. But it was defianeatly better than being discoverd by a cop. For the most part Angeliqué kept quiet about her abilities. They were just something that was apart of her. Something that never really saw the light of day until hours like this. Angeliqué's body then began to relax, her tensed up shoulders falling and the grip on her book easing up.   Angel looked over the guy in the door frame. Brown hair with some hints of white. From what she could see of his face, he looked a little younger than her. Not by much, but enough that she could tell. On his feet were....roller skates. How he got up the stairs without slipping and breaking every bone in his body impressed her. Finally she spoke up.   "I like your skates."  

Quentin Jones

"Thanks, I made them myself." The sides of his mouth slowly made itself into an attempt at a friendly smile. It was nice to find another evo who wasn't on the y'know long spectrum of blood-bolt to Victory and everything in-between. Though he'd never actually admit he was an evo, or publicly say it given....recent events.   How he had gotten up the stairs was a very slow process of learning how to walk in skates, it was a painful process but worth it too him. "So, we gonna keep saying things we like? or are you gonna keep working on that? I'm Quentin by the way." Quentin took another chomp of his protein bar.  

Angeliqué Blake

Angeliqué was able to relax a bit more enough to produce a small smile and offered a non-glowing tattooed hand to shake. "Angeliqué." she replied shaking Quentin's hand. Pulling away she turned back to face her work and walked back over to it. "Sorry for taking your spot, I didn't really know there was like any...dibs, on this place." She chuckled before lighting up her hand again. She held her hand out ready to continue but she stopped and turned to Quentin. "Yo if you want to like....still do your thing. I wouldn't mind Sharing the space. Consider it like a.....collaboration of sorts."

[Manipulator, Basic x1, -0EP, 22EP]

 

Quentin Jones

Quentin softly took her hand in the shake, his didn't have any tattoo's though the truth of why was because he's just another broke uni student. He smiled following her to see what she was working on. "Pretty name for a pretty good artist. It's alright, it's not like I actually marked it or anything."   He shrugged it off and picked his stencils back up still happily chomping down on the protein bar. "Oh, well maybe, I wouldn't wanna get in ya way, and I was planning like a whole wall thing, depends what was your idea?"    

Angeliqué Blake

Angeliqué rolled her eyes and then turned back to her piece. “Well I was going for something a bit more Floral.” She paused as she took a second to cock her head so she could look at it at from another perspective. “I guess I got a little carried away and just kind of let the music take over. Now we’re left with... jellyfish?” She cocked a brow before straightening back up and laughing. “As you can see it’s kind of just whatever you can think of. So you wouldn’t really be getting in the way. Feel free to add something. Anything really. Your only limit is however long it takes the cops to notice.”  

Quentin Jones

"I can work with Jellyfish. Kinda, not usually my style but I can try atleast right? Not to mention nothin' wrong with letting the music win. Sometimes a good beat produces what you actually felt or well whatever you wanted to convey y'know?" Quentin joined in with his own chuckle pulling a few cans of spray paint off of his belt that also had a weird black helmet looking thing? It was too shiny to be a helmet it looked more like a weird TV screen made smaller.   "Alright lets see. Floral and Jellyfish." Quentins hand shook the can the paint inside colliding with each other and the sides as he pulls up his headphones leaving one off so he could still chat with Angelique as he painted. His art style seemed to be more punky in style but it slowly changed and adapted to better accent her style as he mumbled a song to himself and she could hear the lyrics from the one earphone that wasn't out.   "We're no strangers to loooooveeee, You know the rulesss and so do I."  

Angeliqué Blake

Angeliqué watched as Quentin pulled out some spray paint cans and start making additions to her piece. Rocking back forth on her heels the woman watched him add his touches. As he zipped around, Angeliqué only caught small snippets of the song that he was singing along to until she eventually put two and two together. 'God damn it....does this count as a rickroll?' Angeliqué let out a chuckle that eventually turned into a small bout of laughter. Quentin was sure enough a character.   Eventually Angeliqué had enough of sitting back. Cracking her knuckles kind of reminiscent of cracking a glowstick, Angeliqué called back the glow to her hands. From where she was standing, she called her glow back to her hands and held them up and began to send little blasts here and there to accent the painted lines Quentin had added. She once again fell into a rhythm. This time it instead of going off on her own motions, Angeliqué would add something every time Quentin finished a piece and moved on to do something else.   It was a Rick Astley fueled symphony.

[Manipulator, Basic x1 Normal x1, -3EP, 19EP]

 

Quentin Jones

Quentin had joined in on the chuckling zipping around from place to place. His body moving to the beat as the cans make the satisfying noises of the released paint hitting the wall. “Don’t judge me on Rick Astley.”   He’d been keeping up a really good pace either he was an artist who’d been doing it a long time or he was just fast. The truth was a mix of both. He made a few mistakes but just went with the flow and mixed them into it. He took a very over the top acrobatic flip back before he moved his headphones and was sitting on his head. “Hmmm. We could always add more but I’ll give you a. Chance to add a bit more.”

[Enh. Basic sustained x1 15/15]

 

Angeliqué Blake

Angeliqué once a gain took a step back so she could get a look at the piece now, and partially to get a breath of fresh air. The fumes from the spray paint while lovely, were also causing her to get a little lightheaded. Taking in the view, she made a little viewfinder from her fingers to sort of frame the piece. Almost like taking a photo with her mind. "It actually looks pretty sick to me, if I'm being honest. It just needs a little something, y'know?" While it felt complete something was missin- Ah but of course. She forgot to leave her mark.   Bringing her hands down and away from her face, Angeliqué activated her hands again for one final time. With a couple quick motions Angeliqué added what she felt was missing, her signature. Once added, she fished around in her pocket for her phone. Pulling it out to document her work, like she had done many times before. Once she had gotten her photo, she looked to Quentin and spoke up again. "I always gotta take some documentation. Unfortunatly it tends to fade after a couple hours. Longest I've seen it last would perhaps be like......a day?" She shrugged before glancing back at her phone. "Shit...I should bounce. My roommate should be back from visiting her Gramps."

[Manipulator, Normal x1, -3EP, 16EP]

 

Quentin Jones

Quentin was still sitting on his head with his legs crossed smiling. “Always gotta remember to sign. Shit I should probably add mine too.”   He quickly started spinning gaining enough momentum to launch himself onto his feet a cardboard stencil grabbed from his pack and taped next to where Angelique had signed. He looked over as if to ask if it was okay to do and once was told it was hand sprayed an addition sign then the Stencil that read “Retr0” I’m a glitchy 8-bit font and threw the last of the can to the side taking a photo.   “Probably a good idea. If you want I can like walk you to your bus or whatever, just incase Y’know the cops see us fleeing the scene of such a crazy world ruining crime! Jokes aside though the offer stands.”  

Angeliqué Blake

Angeliqué smirked in response to Quentin’s offer. “Thanks. I’d really like to not run into some cops on the way to my ride. You seem like you know a quiet way outta here.” Angeliqué slid her sketchbook into her hoodie pockets. She took a few seconds to also push her curls back and pull her hoodie over her head. She then reached into her pockets and pulled out a pair sunglasses. The perfect disguise for getting past authorities.  

Quentin Jones

His phoned pinged with a quick message popping up on the screen that read "Memory nearly full." *Huh, I should have plenty more. When I get to my dorm i'll check it out. probably that Senor convivence.   Quetin gave a warm smile and slowly made his way to the side of the building looking off the side. "Well mines more fast then quiet.....but I'm sure if I slow down we'll be fine......quick question on a scale of 1-10 how good are you at holding onto someone while they move? 1 being like the worst and 10 being a video game protagonist."  

Angeliqué Blake

Angeliqué looked confused for a split second as she took a second to think and then respond with a shaky hand. "I'd say I've got a pretty good grip. Nothing spectacular. Why do you-" That's when it hit her. Of course he was going use his ability to get them out of there. Angel hit a pose similar to one who had been caught off guard. Should she be scared? Not really. Though she didn't really know what to expect so of course she was a little scared. "I parked my ride not too far from here. A vespa, light yellow. On the back there's a little star sticker on it. You can't miss it."  

Quentin Jones

“Well…” A small smirk formed on his lips as he casually shrugged explaining his plan in a flurry of quick words.   “My escape involves grinding down this pipe and taking off as quick as possible. So if you’ve got a good enough grip I can piggyback you down and carry you to your lil Vespa. Have you got a helmet on you now?” Quentin rocked his feet back and forth in a movement similar to a shuffle except he never left the ground. He was so full of energy despite the fact it was late.   He was unstoppable when he wanted to be and he was just beginning to wind up. “I’ll try not to break a land speed record but I can’t promise I won’t.” He scratched his neck awkwardly chuckling. God if I broke a land speed record I would be so happy! I’d feel like lightning! Like a bird flying!  

Angeliqué Blake

Angeliqué was quiet for a bit. Was this really her only option? Well…if she wanted to avoid the cops. Yeah she might as well take the offer. “You better have a good grip. I’d really rather not end up splattered across the ground.” She let a nervous laugh before taking position behind Quentin and carefully climbed on his back.  

Quentin Jones

Quentin passed her what seemed to be a full helmet made entirely of pitch black glass. “Put this on like a motorcycle helmet and you’ll be fine.” Once the helmet was on and she’d climbed onto his back he stretched out.  

Retr0

The helmet lit up flashing an eight bit 0 symbol on the outside before it burst into flame to show a demon breaking a speed-o-meter as one appeared on the HUD of the helmet that Angeliqué could see.  

Quentin Jones

“Alright ready? C’mon have some faith in the guy you just met.”

[Techno user basic x 1 15/15]

 

Angeliqué Blake

Angeliqué took the helmet and put it on as instructed. Once it was on her it lit up and came to life. Not something she expected but this probably had something to do with his abilities.   Was she ready? Well she did want to get home and she was already here. “I mean…I’m ready as I’ll ever be.” She replied tightening her grip a little.  

Quentin Jones

“Alright alright.” A grin came across his face. He was going to enjoy this. He put on of his arms across both of her hands acting as best as it could like a safety bar in a roller coaster.   “Don’t worry it’ll be just like a roller coaster……you do like roller coaster’s right?” Before she could say anything the motorised blades took off the speedometer increasing before he jumped off the side of the building grabbing onto a pipe and grinding down it landing safely at the bottom. It was rather fast and they both could have died but they lived and unharmed.

[Enh speed burst basic x 1 15/15]

[Techno usr x1 minor 14/15]

 

Storyteller

Angeliquè’s reaction could have been worse considering that she had basically been thrown off a building with a madman in roller skates her only hope for survival. She got the energy this is something he does too often to bother counting.   They roll their way through leadenhalls dark crusty alleyways towards her ride in which Quentin drops her off, takes his helmet back. They trade numbers before they both leave for their own ways. Maybe they’ll meet again, or maybe she’ll use common sense and avoid him.